


They Started In Silence

by IncompletePerson



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Turnadette - Freeform, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncompletePerson/pseuds/IncompletePerson
Summary: OneShot. As the staff of Nonnatus House prepare to see The Sound Of Music, they learn of a similar story regarding a nun and a doctor...
Relationships: Bernadette | Shelagh Turner & Patrick Turner, Bernadette | Shelagh Turner/Patrick Turner
Comments: 12
Kudos: 95





	They Started In Silence

The last patient strode out of the clinic, balancing her newly vaccinated son on her hip. The staff of Nonnatus House paused momentarily to breathe an exhausted sigh of relief, then got to work transforming their mother and baby clinic back into a community hall. The stream of expectant mothers and new babies had seemed endless that day, with each one presenting more of a challenge than the last. They had worked relentlessly seeing to the needs of each of their patients, ensuring that each one had left feeling calmer and more supported than they had when they arrived.

As the waiting area had grown smaller and the clock had ticked closer to closing time, the excitement of the staff increased. Sister Julienne had finally lifted the ban on The Sound Of Music, and preparations had been made for the entirety of Nonnatus House to visit the local theatre that evening. For the past few days, the young nurses had hardly discussed anything other than how they were going to curl their hair or which pair of shoes would go best with their dresses, which was now beginning to annoy the Nuns (and Phyllis). Luckily, the promise of seeing Julie Andrews singing on the big screen and Sister Julienne’s unexplained newfound interest in the film was enough to hold their intrigue, and they too had secretly been daydreaming at the potential of ice creams and popcorn.

Sister Julienne and Sister Hilda had already left the clinic an hour earlier for an unexpected house call, which they prayed wouldn’t cause too much of a delay to their plans. Trixie’s scheduled day off had coincided perfectly with the trip and she had declared she would spend the time painting her nails and creating a face mask out of whipped egg whites. The remaining staff members cleared the last of the privacy screens away, and made a mutual decision to grab a final cup of tea before they headed back to Nonnatus to get ready. The staff kitchen that joined onto the main hall was tiny, but was room enough for the few of them to settle round a table and grab one last hot beverage.

Valerie dropped down into one of the empty chairs in exhaustion, with a lit cigarette already between her lips. Sister Frances and Lucille took their seats either side of her, looking equally as drained as she did, but excited nevertheless. Phyllis seemed much more composed then her colleagues, however she always did seem to have an irritating knack of thriving under the intense pressure of clinic days. 

“I’m so excited about tonight” Said Lucille, I can’t wait to hear all that beautiful music”

“Me either” Said Val, breathing out a long trail of wispy smoke, “But I still don’t understand why Sister Julienne was so against it in the first place”

“I’m sure she had her reasons” Said Shelagh, perhaps sounding a little too chastising. 

Sister Julienne had always been incredibly dear to Shelagh, so it was hard for her to listen to any kind of criticism against her. She knew Sister Julienne could be unnecessarily stubborn about the most peculiar of things, but Shelagh always respected her ability to be humble and the way she would always admit to making errors in her judgement. She was glad that The Sound Of Music issue had been resolved, as it had meant she could finally stop feeling guilty about have gone against her wishes and seen it already. While Sister Julienne was technically not her superior any more, Shelagh knew she would always feel an overwhelming sense of loyalty and respect towards the woman that helped her during some of the darkest times in her life. 

Shelagh squeezed past the group to reach the back of the kitchen, where she got to work filling the empty kettle and setting it up to start boiling. 

“Yes” Sister Frances nodded, “Sister Julienne felt the film may be inappropriate and disrespectful to the church...”

“For goodness sake,” Phyllis sighed loudly, “Its not like its going to inspire the young nuns of today to suddenly go running across the alps, is it?”

“Well...” Said Sister Francis, “When I was studying to become a postulant, I did hear a rumour about a nun who had abandoned the order to run off with a doctor...”

Sister Frances regretted it as soon as she said it, as she was sure she had broken some kind of rule. She just she wasn’t quite sure which one. She was glad that her superiors were currently busy elsewhere were not there to chastise her. Lucille and Val leaned forward ever so slightly in eagerness, their mouths widening in shock. Phyllis looked away and tried to pretend she wasn’t interested, but even she was a little intrigued as this was not the first time she had heard the rumour of the runaway nun. Previously, she had brushed it off as nonsense, but as the gossip had now reached as far as the convent, she wondered if there may have been some truth in it after all.

The kettle screeched as it came to the boil. Shelagh screwed her eyes shut in disbelief and wished she could be literally anywhere else. The Austrian Alps suddenly seemed like a wonderful destination. She was glad that she was already facing away from the group, as she was sure that her face must have turned an alarming shade of pink in the embarrassment to compliment the heavy feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. She took a few deep breaths as she shakily poured the boiled water into the five cups that she had lined up on the counter, and gave them a clumsy splash of milk.

Val snorted in disbelief, “A doctor...seducing a _nun?!”_

“It didn’t happen quite like that” Said Shelagh, much louder than she had anticipated. She tipped a heap of sugar into each of the mugs and stirred them loudly in annoyance. 

She suddenly felt more defensive than mortified, as it was though they were calling her morals into question. It had not been a sordid affair where they had sneaked around and broken the rules. There had been no stolen kisses in the shadows of the church, or secret rendezvous in-between their patient’s appointments. It had been innocent and delicate. Nothing untoward had ever happened while she was wearing her habit, except maybe when he had kissed her hand...

“It's _true?”_ gasped Sister Francis, oblivious to Shelagh’s tone, “Did you know her?!”

Shelagh snapped out of her daydream and turned around to face her colleagues. Her irritation changed to confusion as stared at them blankly for a few seconds. She found that the group were looking back at her, almost expectedly. She couldn’t quite decide if they were purposely playing dumb, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “Well...Sister Bernadette _did_ work at Nonnatus, yes”

They continued to stare at her, their eyes almost demanding more information. Even Phyllis had now stopped trying to pretend she wasn’t interested and she too was waiting for Shelagh to tell them more. Shelagh cleared her throat awkwardly as she started to bring the mugs to the table, as the rest of the room remained silent in anticipation. Once everyone had received their drink, she pulled out the only empty chair and sat down slowly, trying to figure out what to tell her unexpected audience. 

None of these women had been with Nonnatus house when she had gotten married, so she supposed that their reactions must be genuine. _But what should she say?_ It’s not that she was embarrassed by her previous life, it was more that she couldn’t stand it being a topic of conversation or a source of gossip. Plus, she was already wary that Sister Julienne had originally deemed the plot of The Sound Of Music to be offensive, and Shelagh wasn’t overly keen on adding any more fuel to that currently dwindling fire. She couldn’t bare the thought of Sister Julienne hearing this _‘gossip’_ and incorrectly assuming that she had been encouraging others to leave The Order, too. She was also trying not to take it _too_ personally that Sister Julienne had been so against the story of Maria Von Trapp, especially after Patrick had pointed out the similarities between the film and the origins of their own relationship. 

She glanced over her shoulder as she shuffled her chair closer to the table, and saw Patrick hunched over some paperwork out the main hall, pen in hand. He was completely engrossed in his work, meticulously reviewing every word and then scribbling across the papers in his awful handwriting. She was grateful that he was too absorbed in his writing to overhear the topic of conversation, as she was sure her feelings of awkwardness would have multiplied if he had been there to listen to the retelling of their past. 

Shelagh turned back to the group, who looked like they had barely blinked or taken a breath over the last few moments. She took a brief sip of her well-sugared tea and cautiously continued; “Sister Bernadette had worked with the Doctor for some time, and they had become quite good… _friends_ over the years.”

Shelagh wasn’t really sure that _friends_ was the right word. Their relationship had always been so complicated when she had been a religious sister, that they only started to cross the line from colleagues into friendship after he had proposed to her. There had been a few moments where she had thought that they were bonding or had maybe felt a certain spark flying between them, but at the time Shelagh had dismissed it and put it down to her wishful thinking or overactive imagination. She never truly believed that the way he had looked at her when they had shared a cigarette could actually be _fondness._ It was only after she had discarded her habit that she had learned Patrick had felt the same way all along.

“What happened?” Lucille asked

“I guess over time she just realised she loved him-” said Shelagh, setting her mug back down, “-and that he probably loved her, too. But, everything was put on hold when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was sent away to a sanatorium...”

“What happened to the poor lass?” Asked Phyllis, “Did she survive?”

“Yes,” Shelagh nodded, “While she was there, the Doctor wrote to her. He apologised for putting her in an awkward position but admitted how he felt”

“It must have been tough for her” Said Val, “Dealing with all those emotions while being so ill”

“I think convalescing at the sanatorium gave her the time to think about what she wanted” said Shelagh “She was so torn between her religious calling and the possibility of a life with the doctor that she could barely think straight. The doctor never asked her to leave the church for him, but she always knew she would eventually have to choose between them”

“And…what did she pick?!” asked Lucille excitedly,

“After much consideration she decided that God must have wanted her to take a different path in life” Shelagh shrugged, “And, as soon as she was free from the tuberculosis, she left The Order. He asked her to marry him that very same day”

Shelagh conveniently skipped over the part where she had taken the wrong bus back to Poplar and Patrick had somehow managed to find her amongst a foggy country road. He still teased her about it on the rare occasions she took the bus, buts always made a point to check she had actually gotten on the right one. Despite this, it was still a memory that she cherished dearly because it was one that only the two of them shared. Tim had been so young at the time that he now claimed he barely remembered a life before she was his mother, and certainly didn’t recall that particular car journey. Shelagh suspected he was in denial and was simply just too embarrassed to think of his parents behaving like two lovesick teenagers. 

She, however, could never forget. The feeling of her heart thumping against her chest as he had run towards her and draped his heavy coat around her shoulders would always stay with her. Until then, she had never known it was possible to feel so many emotions in one single moment; excitement, fear, longing, hesitation, exhilaration and vulnerability. But, all of them melted away into complete and utter happiness when he told her that he was completely certain. 

“That’s a big risk” Phyllis said, “To leave everything she knew behind for someone who might not have stuck around?”

“Well,” Shelagh said, smiling a little; “She couldn’t have been more certain that she was doing the right thing”

“Where are they now?” Asked Val, “Are they still together?”

“Rumour has it-” Doctor Turner said brightly, suddenly entering the kitchen. He was beaming as he stood behind Shelagh, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. “-that they are both very happy indeed”

He was still wearing his long white coat with his stethoscope draped around his neck and the paperwork tucked under his other arm. He looked tired, but was still grinning widely. He had been trying not to eavesdrop on his wife’s story, but he just couldn’t help himself. It had lightened his mood after a hard day, especially as her audience seemed to be oblivious to who she had been referring to. He had presumed that Shelagh leaving the church was old news, and it had never occurred to him that it could still be a source of intrigue.

Those days of pining for her now felt like a distant dream, and he could scarcely believe where they were now. He had been so sure that he was destined for heartbreak, and never considered that one day they would be married with children of their own. He sometimes wished he could go back and tell his past self to just be patient, and that it would all eventually work out. If he had have known that she was going to chose him, he would have gladly have waited ten times as long for her. 

He leaned over and placed a kiss on Shelagh’s cheek, unable to help himself. Shelagh gazed up at him lovingly, while their colleagues just stared at them blankly and said nothing. It dawned on her that Patrick had been listening all along, however the only thing that mattered in that moment was how happy they both were. Any feeling of embarrassment or awkwardness she may have felt had been pushed aside as soon as he had stepped through the doorway, and replaced by happiness. 

One by one, the expressions of their audience changed from confusion to realisation as the reality of the situation dawned on them.

“Well, we better get going” Shelagh said, desperate to escape before they demanded any more answers from her, “I’m first on call tonight and Sister Julienne will be wondering where I’ve got too”

The pair said their goodbyes and quickly dismissed themselves from the room. Lucille, Val, Phyllis and Sister Frances sat in silence for a few moments and listened to the sound of their footsteps disappearing into the distance and the community hall doors swinging closed.

“But, I don’t understand” frowned Sister Frances after some time, “Is Mrs Turner-?”

“-Yes, lass” Said Phyllis, “I think she is”

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the discussion Shelagh & Patrick had after they saw The Sound Of Music in S09E05. It occurred to me that there aren't many characters left that were around during Shelagh's nun days so its possible that some of them have no idea about her past life. This is the first fanfic I've written in about seven (?) years, and the first one I have ever done for CTM so I hope its okay! Thank you for reading!


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